Tortorella pre-game press conference

Here are the highlights about why the Rangers decided to re-call Sean Avery (or at least, put him on re-entry waivers). Will have audio in a few minutes right below this:

John Tortorella:

Why Avery now?

“Rupper. Rupper has a lot to do with this. We’re concerned about this. So we have to be careful there. Not sure what’s going to happen. There’s a couple other things that come along with it. But this is the right decision. It’s a hockey decision. It’s the right hockey decision now. And it was the right hockey decision when we sent Sean down. So that’s where it’s at.

“As I said yesterday, we have concerns with Rupper. I’m not sure when he’s going to play.

“Sean’s biggest strength are his legs. He’s a terrific skater. Obviously a big part of his game is forechecking, his play underneath the hashmarks. So we want him to play to his strengths and also work on the other parts of the game away from the puck. So it’s just like any other player. When you call a guy up, we want him to help us win a hockey game. It’s not that convoluted in my thinking, whether it’s Sean or Zuc (Mats Zuccarello) or Newbs (Kris Newbury) or Devo (Andre Deveaux), we want them to do the best they can to help us win a hockey game.”

“With Sean, it’s Rupper. …”

“When a guy like Rupper goes out, to me, it’s the right call for Sean in this situation here because it fills that role that we bring Rupper in for during the offseason.”

———————

Here’s the audio, with stuff also about Artem Anisimov saying this morning that he lost consciousness Saturday, but team officials insisting he didn’t understand the question. Tortorella also discusses the sky-is-falling feeling after nine games.

Doodie – you are right – got to hit, but when they have 4th liners going after your $$ players and you have Prust who will dance, but is no fighter given shoulder and size constraints and Dubi who can only beat up Richards, you got some potential problems.

Boyle should be taking boxing along with his skating lessons – definite reach advantage!

doodie
so now this has become a discussion on how many times an undersized avery has “lost” a fight (are you really chico resch?) i just don’t remember him getting caught cleanly with a punch all that frequently. apparently haley got him, ok?

you really think huginsky is a great fighter?

staal wart
so most fighters duck and “hide” during fights, but i guess you are part of the fedoruk school of fighting then?

Unreal. This is a guy who’s a career -26, who’s cracked 15 points exactly twice in his career, can’t skate, can’t shoot, isn’t particularly tough and got one of the most absurdly bloated contracts in recent memory. His one attribute is that he is good on faceoffs. I once said he’s the second-coming of Sandy McCarthy – that was probably an overestimation.

Unreal. This is a guy who’s a career minus 26, who’s cracked 15 points exactly twice in his career, can’t skate, can’t shoot, isn’t particularly tough and got one of the most absurdly bloated contracts in recent memory. His one attribute is that he is good on faceoffs. I once said he’s the second-coming of Sandy McCarthy that was probably an overestimation.

staal
you are not correct (sorry to say). Most fighters duck and cover until they are in an advantageous position to throw (especially when the fighters are tied up in close together or there is a definitive size advantage)…now I guess at times if the other fighter is countering then a duck and cover is wise after you throw, but that is not the only time a fighter would duck and cover. You see guys turning their heads and leaning away while trying to get their elbow pads loose or a better grip on the jersey of their opponent for instance.

no offence man, but if you don’t like avery that is fine (as i stated earlier, I am neutral on him) but don’t comment on what you seemingly know nothing about

Avery is replacing Rupp – who isn’t a very good skater (and hence, forechecker). I don’t mind the Rupp signing, he seems a little snakebitten right now with the injuries – although hasnt that been the case with the last 3 enforcers we signed?

Why is EC still on this team? Here’s my thing with EC and WW… if they don’t score, they are useless on the ice. Neither one hits or forechecks effectively. Of course they are both skilled, but they can’t seem to put it together in a game. Maybe they are practice all-stars?